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“What do you think my father wants to talk to us about?”
“I would imagine he wants to know why I threw a direct order back in his face,” he said, his voice tight and controlled. “After less than a day had passed.”
He glared over at me, and I had the feeling he’d prefer to be shouting at me.
“Oh, I guess you already told him then.”
“Yes.”
“And he’s not taking it very well.”
“It seems so.”
“But you had no say in the matter. I’ll make that clear to him.”
He didn’t reply, and we stepped into the lift and went up to the comm deck. I took a step backward as the doors opened, because it was bustling with activity and full of people who all stopped and turned to stare at us as the doors opened. How in the world could we have a conversation with the king in front of everyone like this? It was impossible. I couldn’t do it.
Tariq turned to look down at me and he must have seen how intimidated I felt with all those people staring at me. In all these years, I’d never gotten used to it, and I still hated it. He leaned over and whispered to me. “Steady. Remember who you are. You outrank everyone on this deck.”
I glanced up at him and nodded, feeling instant comfort at his words and his nearness. I leaned into his shoulder a bit, because he’d said exactly what I’d needed to hear to calm me down, and he allowed it. He still held himself stiffly and looked cold and indifferent, but when he glanced down at me and I smiled up at him, he blinked a couple of times. He quickly recovered and took my arm to escort me off the lift and over to the captain’s chair on the main console.
“Captain,” he said, “I believe we have an incoming communication from His Majesty.”
The captain got to his feet and bowed to us, murmuring, “Your Highness,” to me. He turned to Tariq. “You can take it in my private quarters, Colonel. Follow me.”
He led us over to a small room off to the far side and indicated the door. “I’ll have everything switched here so you can have some privacy. Remember, this is an open channel, however. Please make no mention of our course or heading in case someone is monitoring.”
“Of course. Thank you, Captain.”
We went inside the small room and over to the captain’s desk and the screen behind it on the wall. I was still holding onto Tariq’s arm, but now I was doing it to keep standing, feeling unaccountably nervous. I’d started this whole thing but now I was thinking better of it. I was afraid my father would be furious.
“This probably doesn’t happen too often, huh?”
“No. Never.”
“Oh gods, he’s going to be angry, isn’t he?”
“I expect so, yes.”
“There may be yelling then. He’s scary when he loses his temper.”
“I don’t expect you’ve seen that often.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised.” I squeezed his arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it clear to him that you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“If I’ve done nothing wrong, then why did you send me away?”
“You know why.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you…”
A voice coming from the screen on the wall startled us both. “Rakkur, if you and the colonel are quite finished, perhaps we can get on with this.”
